Not yours
by A Pretty Little Love
Summary: After Ezra finds out the truth about Malcolm he called the person he trusts the most, Aria, but she didn't answer. The following day how do things turn out? Based off of episode 4x10.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi everyone! So, it's been a long time since I've posted anything but after the episode last week (I think everyone on here is just as angry as me) I had some inspiration. This is basically what I think should happen following the day Aria didn't answer Ezra's call. Probably two or three chapters, depending on what you guys think. **

**So, as always review the story and give me your thoughts on the chapter as well as letting me know if you'd like to see more. Thanks and Enjoy!  
**

Chapter 1

That morning as Aria walked into school she dreaded going to her first class of the day, and even more than she would usually. English, which used to be her favorite hour from 8:30 – 3:00 Monday to Friday, due to a certain handsome teacher being there, had become the hour she now skipped the most often. It was hard on her to sit in her desk and listen to him talk about books that they had already discussed over wine whilst sitting on his couch. When she didn't pay attention, he never bothered her; he didn't call on her in class, or tell her to pay attention, probably for that same reason. They had come to an unspoken agreement simply not to come in contact with each other unless absolutely essential.

It worked well enough she had thought, until he broke it that was. Last night when he had called her she didn't know what to do. She wanted to answer but at the same time she wondered where that would take them. She didn't want to put herself back into that mess of his life. As much as she loved him, and she knew that no matter how many dates she went on with Jake that feeling wasn't going away, she also knew it wasn't the right time for either of them.

She needed to graduate. She needed to figure out this A thing. She needed to be able to go to high school dances with a date.

He needed a job. He needed to raise his child. He needed to sort things out with Maggie.

Neither of them were in a place in their lives anymore where they just fit together. Not that there had ever been a time in their relationship where things were simple for them; whether it was the secrets, the fallout with her parents, the other people who seemed to get in the way. They had always figured it out though.

The more Aria thought about it she wondered why this time they hadn't been able to. She wondered if maybe they were just in two very different places in their lives and the age gap was finally catching up with them.

She knew that when things got to real she ran away. She asked herself if she really ended things for his safety and for Malcolm's safety a lot of the nights she lied restless in bed. She knew it was that night when Malcolm had been taken that was her breaking point, but she wasn't sure if it was the looming threat of A that was the scariest factor or if it was that she was 17 and playing step-mom to her boyfriend's 7 year old son.

She wasn't ready to be a mom. She had a hard enough time taking care of herself most days and it wasn't fair to her or Malcolm that she was trying to be something she couldn't and didn't want to be. She wanted to be with Ezra, and she hoped that one day in the future she would be able to take on everything that came with a relationship with him, but at that moment, she wasn't. She also couldn't tell him to wait for her. That wasn't fair and she knew it was unrealistic. They needed to part ways, and if someday fate brought them back into each other's lives she would happily welcome it.

That was why as the phone continued to ring she pressed the decline button and carried on with her date with Jake. However the rest of the night, even when her lips were pressed against another man's, her thoughts went back to Ezra. She wondered why he called and wondered if it was something important. She shook that thought from her head though and told herself it was probably just a moment of weakness. She had them too, but she never actually let the phone ring. Aria would just dial the number she had long ago memorized and then catch herself before she could do anything she would regret, like tapping that green call button.

When Aria got to the door of the English classroom and stepped inside she walked quickly to her seat, eyes never turning to glace at the front of the class room or in his general direction. The idea of him approaching her was stuck in her head. Maybe he would ask her why she didn't answer, she thought, but as soon as she did she told herself he would never be so stupid as to call her behind after class. Not now that everyone knew about their past.

As determined as she had been Aria's eyes faltered and for one brief second she simply wanted to see him and see that he was okay. Yet when her eyes went to his seat behind the large wooden desk she saw it was filled by a woman. Aria did a double take of the classroom, confirming that in her thought clouded walk into the school she hadn't mistakenly entered the wrong classroom, but every poster and every student was exactly where they should have been. She knew that she could easily find her way to this classroom blindfolded due to the amount of times her high heeled feet had made this journey.

At that moment panic ensued. Aria, who had never dealt with stress well and was quite prone to panic attacks thought of reasons why this woman could be taking over Ezra's class. Immediately her thoughts went wild, what if he was hurt? What if Malcolm was hurt? What if that call she pettily declined was important?

The worried brunette found herself rising from her seat and pattering over to the woman looking at papers on the desk which did not belong to her. "Excuse me. Where is Mr. Fitz?" Aria asked.

The woman looked up at her and flatly replied "He's out, I'm subbing for him today" which was not the response Aria was looking for.

"I can see that. I can see he quite clearly isn't here. I want to know where he _is._" She snapped at the woman.

"I don't know where Mr. Fitz is, but even if I did I wouldn't be divulging that information to you. His personal life is of no concern to a student." The prissy woman replied to Aria and without a second thought Aria walked to the classroom door, opened it, and slammed it behind her before scampering down the hall and to her car. She quickly dialed his number on her cell phone while rushing through the school but there was no answer on the other end. Everything concerning Ezra Fitz was most certainly her business, and Aria was desperate to find out what the substitute teacher couldn't tell her.

"Who was that!" the sub asked directing her question to Hannah, who was not going to rat out her friend.

"Who was who?" The blonde asked simply.

"The girl who just ran out of here!" The sub fumed. It was clear that she was new and took her job way to seriously. Most teachers at Rosewood simply would have carried on as if that was a regular occurrence.

"I didn't see anyone run out of here." Hannah lied straight faced, and then turned to Spencer sitting beside her. "Did you?" Hannah asked the most composed and thoughtful of their group which so well trained in this craft.

"No I didn't see anything" Spencer replied and then gave the teacher a look that dared her to say otherwise. Although none of the girls knew what exactly was going none of them needed any more information or even a request form their friend to cover for the petite girl. It was simply what they did.

The teacher was almost prepared to surrender when a male in the back spoke up to her. "That was Aria Montgomery." Noel informed while smirking at the two liars sitting rows in front of him. "I guess she just can't handle a day without seeing Mr. Fitz. After the breakup this is probably the only time the teacher's pet gets with him, right? Or does she still do extra credit work on the weekends and after-school? " Noel smugly added and while Spencer prepared to fight back the teacher with a shocked expression on her face attempted to gain control of the class.


	2. Chapter 2

**Wow! Thank you all so much for the reviews! I'm glad you enjoyed the story so far. I was originally planning on ending it here but then I started scribbling down a bit more... So leave a review and let me know what you think! :) Thanks again! **

Chapter 2

Aria sped to the apartment building which she had been to many times before. She wasn't sure if he would be there, but she hoped that maybe he was simply sick. Maybe all this worry was for nothing. Aria parked her car and rushed up three flights of stairs before reaching the hallway and the door marked 3B. She hesitated for a moment before knocking, but then lightly brought her fist down on the door in three hurried motions. When there was no response she waited for a moment before repeating her actions bringing her fist more harshly to the wooden door this time.

From inside of the apartment Ezra lay on the couch hearing the noise coming from the hallway but having no intention to go and answer it. All he wanted was for them to stop and go away. When it sounded like the person had finally given up Ezra breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't want to talk to anyone. He didn't even know what he would say. As he lifted the glass of whiskey up to his lips he heard the familiar rattle of his door and clack of high heel shoes entering his home. Turning his head he saw Aria Montgomery watching him and a wave of relief wash across her face.

"Ezra! You're here!" Aria said walking over to him.

"Yup. Here I am, in my apartment. Why are you here?" he asked bitterly. He was in a way happy to see her, he missed the girl he loved being in is home, but right now all he wanted was to wallow in his self-pity. That was something that he didn't need Aria to be around for.

"You called last night and I didn't answer and then you weren't at school today and I was worried something had happened to you. I thought something was wrong." Aria told him quickly and she could feel that tears were sitting in the corner of her eyes. She had worked herself into a tizzy and here he was. He was okay she thought.

"I'm ay okay. Just dandy, thanks. So you can go." He replied heavily sarcastic and the words made her take a second look. His eyes looked tired and bloodshot and he had a glass of whiskey sitting on the table next to him. At nine in the morning that was a clear sign that he was not, in fact, alright.

"Clearly you aren't. What's wrong Ezra?" Aria asked as she walked over and sat by his feet on the couch where he still refused to sit up. He just shook his head at her. He didn't know how to respond. He didn't want to burden her and more with his messed up life.

"Well you called me last night I'm assuming with intentions to tell me. Why won't you now?" Aria said and he dryly chuckled at her. Unlike a genuine laugh from him which made a smile unconditionally spread across her face, this made her heart hurt. She could see more and more clearly something was very wrong.

"After the alcohol wore off a bit I could see what a stupid idea that was." Ezra said looking into her eyes with a dark air she hadn't seen from him before. It was as if he wasn't the Ezra she knew. "Anyway shouldn't you be at school?" he said glancing at his clock and reading the time that he had now lost track of.

"Yeah, and so should you." Aria shot back not willing to let him try the whole authority figure act while she was watching him drinking on a Tuesday morning while refusing to go to work.

"Touché miss Montgomery." He said with a sly grin. Both of them could see the effect she was having on him in the short amount of time she had been there.

"You might as well talk to me. That bitch substitute in your class hates me already, so I'm not going back." Aria said hoping to get something from him, a laugh perhaps, or maybe for him to actually tell her what was causing him to act so differently. Instead though, she was met by silence. "Fine. I guess I will just make myself at home then. It's not like I don't know my way around." Aria grumbled not ready to give up. She walked out to the kitchen and opened the fridge to be met by an assortment of groceries as opposed to the regularly bare shelves and furry lime she was so used to.

"Wow. There is actual food in here. I guess I can attribute that to you having a hungry seven year old boy to feed." Aria responded thinking nothing of it but Ezra grinded his teeth harshly at her words which she had no idea would hurt him so much.

"Yeah, well don't get used to it." Ezra responded without thinking. At first Aria thought that it was a remark meant towards her not being there but as she ran it over in her mind her thoughts went to Malcolm.

"Is something wrong with Malcolm?" she asked concerned as she rushed back over to Ezra who had finally sat up on the couch. She stood in front of him and watched the sadness in his eyes as he looked up at her.

"No. Malcolm is fine." He whispered and Aria took a step closer to Ezra. "Then what is it?" she asked again and this time he wanted her to know. He wanted someone to tell him everything was going to be okay, even if it wasn't true and they couldn't help.

"Look in the envelope on the desk" Ezra said and Aria walked over picking up a large white envelope that sat on top of his other papers. She could see from the torn edges it had been opened already. She held it up for him to see and he nodded confirming that was what she needed to see in order to make sense of his out of character behavior.

Aria opened it and pulled out some papers which had a great amount of writing on them. At first she didn't know what to make of it, but after looking over them she understood what the long words were there to convey. Ezra was not Malcolm's father. That seven year old child was not his. It came as a shock to Aria. She didn't know what to think or say, and she couldn't even imagine how Ezra felt. He had welcomed that child into his life. He had done everything he could to make up for not being there for the last seven years. Seven years he wasn't responsible for. A child he wasn't responsible for.

"He's not…" Aria muttered and Ezra shook his head. "So Maggie?" Aria asked an incomplete question but they knew each other well enough to understand where the other's thoughts were going.

"We had been fighting; she went out and got drunk. She slept with some guy. That's Malcolm's dad." Ezra said it short choppy sentences.

"And she knew?" Aria asked her voice snarling as if that was the most despicable thing in the world.

"She said it was 'a question' she had, and she 'chose her own answer'" Ezra said putting air quotations around her words. "I think she knew. It was a good plan on her part. I mean if you had to blame someone for getting you pregnant would you pick a one night stand no one knew you had, or your boyfriend who has wealthy parents. I'm sure she knew my mother would be more than willing to pay her off if she would just go away. It was almost guilt free for her. No wonder she never tried to find me or why the search was so impossible, she didn't want me to find her." Ezra said and Aria slowly inched her way closer to him and sat on the couch.

"I'm so sorry Ezra. You were so good to them." Aria whispered soothingly to her ex-boyfriend. "Is there anything I can do to help?" she offered.

"No, there isn't. I'm just grateful that you came to listen." Ezra smiled weakly at her.

"Did you tell anyone else?" She asked him and he shook his head. "Who do I have to tell? I haven't talked to my mother since that night when she tried to get rid of you. My brother and I really aren't on good terms. Maggie is the reason for all this. Malcolm is just a child, he obviously can never know that his mother was sleeping around and that she probably doesn't even know who his father is. None of my friends are close enough to tell something like that to. And then there's you. You're the one I called. I knew that we were broken up and you moved on but I figured you might still care. I don't blame you for not answering though. I just hoped you might be there, at least as a friend." Ezra explained and Aria saw why he was having such a hard time with losing Malcolm. It wasn't just Malcolm he had lost. He didn't have a lot going for him at the moment. He felt pretty alone and pretty lost.

"I'm sorry I didn't answer. It was stupid and childish of me. How about we make a deal? From now on, if one of us calls the other, we answer. No matter what, we answer, because if we're calling it means 'I need you'. Okay?" Aria said gathering one of Ezra's hands in hers.

"Yeah. That sounds good. Now get back to school." He said with a smirk and Aria's lips pulled up into a sad grin.

"I can stay. Really, I don't need to go. We can watch black and white movies, eat Chinese food?" Aria offered but once she said it she realized pretending things were how they used to be wasn't going to help.

"No, I'm fine." He said while giving her hand a gentle squeeze before letting it go. "Get going Miss Montgomery." He joked and almost smiled this time.

"On my way Mr. Fitz." She replied with a chuckle and a sense of familiarity. They used to joke about being student and teacher a lot, but when it became the reason for their demise it got harder to laugh about. Now it almost seemed like things between them were okay again. That sense of fake formality that they had recognized between them was now gone. They had loved each other, they wouldn't deny that anymore.

Aria got up and he followed her, walking her to the door.

"Will I see you at school tomorrow?" Aria asked hopefully.

"Yes, you will." He replied looking into her deep hazel eyes.

"Good." Aria responded and as she opened the door to leave she said goodbye. Before Ezra closed the door behind her he called out to the girl walking down his hallway.

"Aria." he said causing her to spin around.

"Yes?" she asked looking at him, curious of what was coming next.

"Thank you." he told her honestly and she smiled at him just as sincerely.

"Anytime." She promised before turning away and walking down the stairs.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello everyone! As usual I want to say thank you for the reviews! I hope you like this chapter, but I'm not completely decided where the story is going, or how much longer it will be, so we shall see...**

**Please review and enjoy!**

Chapter 3

After Aria left Ezra's apartment she went back to school as she said she would and Ezra poured the rest of his glass of whiskey down the sink.

He was going to pull himself back together and tomorrow nobody would ever suspect that their English teacher had a breakdown. Nobody but Aria would know how badly he had been hurt or how badly hurt he still was and he doubted anyone other than Aria even cared. Ezra wondered to himself how much Aria actually cared. He was grateful that she was there for him when he needed her, but he questioned if it was out of genuine concern and love, or if it was out pity for the man she used to date whose life was falling apart by the seams. Really nothing was going right. He lost his kid, who was never even his. He lost his girlfriend. And he had a job that as much as he loved, he didn't want half as badly as the girl who left him as a result of taking it.

Ezra knew that she had a new boyfriend, a tall, handsome, strong looking guy who worked as a karate teacher. Ezra knew quite a bit about him since he worked at the same studio where Malcolm had been taking lessons. His name was Jake and honestly Ezra thought that he was good for her. It was good for her to have someone who she could go out in public with, someone who could hold her hand walking down the street to the movie theater, and someone who could take her out for a nice dinner rather than always having to get takeout.

What Ezra didn't know was that, as good as Jake was for her in theory, he wasn't right for her at all. He didn't want to go and see the classics that they would see when they had the chance or simply watch on his couch when they couldn't sneak around. Jake didn't know that Aria didn't eat meat, and instead of taking her to a French vegan bistro he planned to take her for steak. Jake thought that Aria's coffee orders were childish, and as much as Ezra thought the same and would tease her for ordering her grown up chocolate milk Ezra knew how to do so without making her feel patronized. Ezra knew about Aria's family, he knew about all the messes that were mixed into that part of her life, a few of which he co-created, and he knew when to stay out of it. Jake on the other hand nosily wormed his way into private mother daughter conversations which Aria didn't want him involved in, and Ezra would have known better than to try and be involved in.

The list went on and on. Aria mentally added to it each day that she saw him. With each date they went on, yet another thing went on the list. At first it was just a list of things about Jake, but Aria realized it soon became complaints about Jake, and then became a comparison between Jake and Ezra. She tried to make it even. She tried to look at the pros that each had. Jake had the obvious benefits of being a socially acceptable boyfriend as well as parent approved which Aria was reveling in, but once she moved past that she couldn't find much else. Sure Jake was nice, he had never been anything but good to her, but he wasn't the one for Aria.

Aria thought about Ezra her drive back to school and when she got back her car was quickly surrounded by her three best friends.

"Where the hell did you go?" Hannah asked as soon as Aria opened the driver's door.

"There was somewhere I had to be, okay?" Aria muttered to them but knew they wouldn't drop it.

"We tried to cover for you but then Noel got involved and… let's just say that substitute may be reconsidering her career path after today." Spencer told her with a slight laugh. They all knew that Spencer could be scary and the substitute had gotten on the wrong side of a long time rivalry between the girls and Noel Kahn.

"Doesn't matter. It's not important." Aria said and as the three girls looked at each other in agreement Spencer spoke.

"Is it about Fitz? We noticed he wasn't there today and..." Spencer said softly before Hannah butt in "And we heard some of what you were saying to the substitute." She added causing Emily and Spencer to roll their eyes at her.

"Really though, if you need to talk you know we're here, right?" Emily assured her friend who nodded.

"I just don't know what to think about it right now." Aria said walking in the direction of her next class, all the girls following behind even though none of their schedules coincided for the next period.

"You didn't sleep with him did you?" Hannah asked wide-eyed.

"No Hannah. It's ten in the morning." Aria scoffed at her friend.

"And? I didn't ask you for the time Aria." Hannah shot back not satisfied by her answer. It wasn't like Aria and Ezra hadn't had their fair share of morning fun on weekends or Holidays. And although Hannah had no actual knowledge of such things, Aria figured she assumed just as much.

"No Hannah, I didn't have sex with Ezra. In fact there was barely any physical contact involved." Aria said in a frustrated tone which she attributed to her friend pestering her, but when Spencer asked her about it she reconsidered the source of her anger.

"Is that disappointment I hear in your voice?" Spencer questioned and Aria thought deeply about what exactly it was that she was feeling for the rest of the day only to wind up more confused. But at that moment Aria thoughtlessly replied "I don't know" before walking into her class room and sitting at her typical desk in history class more than willing to be distracted by whatever it was the teacher planned to discuss that day.


End file.
